Improvement in breech-loading fire-arms



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1. M.. W'HITTEMORE.

Exeem/Loading Fire Arm.

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Patented June 14. *1870.

JAMES M. WHITTEMORE, OF AUGUSTA, MAINE.

Letters Patent No. 104,387, dated June 14, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT I BREECH-LOADING- FIRE-ARMS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the nam-e.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES M. WHITTEMORE, of Kennebec Arsenal, Augusta, Maine, in the county of Kenncbec, have invented a new and useful Improvement iu Breech-loading Fire-arms; and I do hereby .the stock or barrel of a breech-loading tire-arm a selflocking hammer and extractor' combined, or a selfloeking hammer without the' extractor, or the extractor without the locking arrangement.

To enable others to understand and make lawful use of my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

Figure 1 represents a section through the axis of the bore of a breechloading firearm, and perpendicular to the axis upon which the hammer turns.

C is a cartridge-case, inserted into its chamber.--

H, thc hammer, turning upon the axis A.

L, the locking-piece, hinged to the hammer at A, and constituting with it and the spiral spring S or the feather spring 1) M, the self-locking hammer.

The locking-piece is retained against the surface S of the recoil-block R by the feather spring D M or spiral spring S, working upon the extractor E, screwed into the locking-piece and passing through the hamlmer, so that its point, l), acts as a cartridge-case extractor, when the locking-piece is revolved downward around the axis A.

\Vith0nt thc end S the locking-piece is an extractor alone.

Without the extractor, and with the feather spring D M, the locking-piece and hammer, hinged together, constitute the lself-locking hammer.

1 2 3, in Figure 2 of the drawings, represent three positions ofthe locking-piece and two of the hammer. From- 1 to 2 the locking-piece alone moves, carrying the point of the extractor up under the flange of the cartridge-case; 2 to 3the locking-piece and hammer move together around the axis of the hammer; at 3 thehammer is at full cock, and the cartridge-case drops out.

The locking arrangement works as follows:

The force of recoil produced by the discharge of the piece, acting to the rear in the direction C B', tends to turnthe hammer about the axis A', which tendency is resisted by the surfaces S and S of the lockingpiecc, S being pressed against the surface S of the recoil-block, and the surface S' against the rear of the. hammer, firmly lockingit; yet, by a motion -to the rear of the handle H of the locking-piece, the hammer is easily unlocked.

Figure 3 in the drawings represents a section of the hammer, detached from the lockingpiece and extractor, with the projection N in its rear, which fits into the jaw J of the locking-piece, represented in Figure The parts specified can he made of steel or malleable iron.

The space between the dotted lines in iig. 3 represents the hole in the hammer, through which the extractor passes. D M, in the same ligure, is thefeather spring.

Having thus described my invention,

What I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letf ters Patent, is-

1.- The hammer H, the locking-piece L, theex tractor E, with the feather spring D M or spiralspring S, all combined, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

2. rlhe extractor' E, hinged to thehammer H,(witli the feather or spiral spring,) substantially as and for the purposes specified.

JAS.- M. WHITTEMORE Witnesses:

H. L. FULLER, C. P. RICHARDS. 

